Doctor Erdel and the Vortices from Venus: A Streak Story
Nov 15, 2021 23:11:52 GMT
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Post by redsycorax on Nov 15, 2021 23:11:52 GMT
Like the Justice Guild of America, some of Earth-109's residents had alternate universe equivalents. However, in some cases, parallels diverge sharply from their datum selves. Such was the case with Dr. Saul Erdel...
++
NOVEMBER 1955:
On a clear night, Dr Saul Erdel cleaned the lens of his larger telescope, trained on Venus. With a cruel smile on his features, he activated his matter transmitter apparatus and a thin stream of radiation emanated forth from it.
Venus-109 is probably unusual in its strong resemblance to its datum equivalent amongst alternate universes. It had never hosted life on its surface except in the distant primeval past before a runaway greenhouse effect turned it into a hellworld with a surface inferno, incapable of supporting even extremophile life. Thus, its lifeforms exist in the upper to medium reaches of its atmosphere. Starting as airborne aerosol micro-organisms, they began to build energy fields and over time, they acquired sapience. They were indistinguishable from electrical storms on Earth and thus would have registered as such had Mariner 2 ever had the chance to transmit data from the cloud-covered inferno to NASA Mission Control on Earth, which never happened in this world. By the time that it was received, Houston was a desolate, icy wasteland wracked by radioactive wind and acid rain on its broken concrete, insensible and dead, charred corpses and shattered, melted glass.
However, Erdel had discovered pattern and purpose to the vortices of Venus and had concluded that they were indeed sapient life. However, unlike alternate versions on other Earths, Saul Erdel decided to do what he did deliberately. He had deduced that if the vortices were stockpiled and crushed, they might form a potent new fuel source. It did not matter to him that his potential prisoners constituted sapient life- all he cared about was the revenue stream that might result from his endeavors. He was deathly tired of his quotidian routine of having to apply for endless grants to carry on his research and the requirements that he teach stultified dullard students who only attended enough Seaboard University classes to pass their grade average and never bothered themselves with questions of applied science and research. He was alienated from the Department of Physics and thus did not receive a proper allocation of masters or doctoral students at all. Even when he did, their interests did not coincide with his.
Except that that would not happen. As he moved through the night, several months later, Jacob Allon- the Streak- noticed a pencil thin stream of light emanating from an observatory high above him. Then the screams and cries hit him as his vibratory pulses coincided with the frequency that they were broadcast on. The Streak gritted his teeth. The emotions conveyed were unmistakable- fear, terror, cries of agonised pain, mourning and sorrow - and they had something to do with the building that he had sped past. For a brief moment, he recalled the stories that his grandparents, aunt and uncles had told him about their narrow escape from Nazi Germany- and that decided his next course of action. He had a moral duty to investigate what was happening and end it. He powered toward the observatory, gritting his teeth as the broadcast volume grew in pitch and amplitude. With a superspeed fanburst, he hit the door and shattered it, causing Erdel to spin around. Caught in the act, the scientist turned and aimed a pistol at the surprise assailant, his features deep with contempt:
"What are you doing here?"
"None of your business, you garish intruder! Now get out of here and leave me alone!"
"Those arrangements of light and energy in that cylinder are alive and aware! You're causing them pain deliberately!"
Erdel sneered: "So? They constitute a new and hitherto unknown form of energy, more effective than petroleum or uranium. With it, this world could have free energy with no consequeneces."
"No consequences? When you're slaughtering innocent beings to achieve your objectives?"
"Eaten any meat or fish today?" Erdel sneered.
"Stop this. Now." The Streak prepared to close the distance between himself and the corrupted savant, until he changed plan and veered his course toward the cylinders, shattering them, liberating those of the Vortices that had survived. Erdel snarled as he swung a hefty object toward the hero, and stored energy slammed into the unprepared speedster. Then there was a shattering, roaring sound as the vortices rounded on their tormentor and tore the weapon from his hands. In a moment, the scientist was silhouetted in flame and turmoil until the Streak cried: "Wait! You are sapient, aware beings! Please, leave this creature to our justice and our ways. I promise that he will receive his due punishment. I know he killed many of you and that there is no excuse for his actions. Forgive us. Not all of us are like this." An exploratory tendril of energy penetrated the Streak's brain and without hesitation, he shared his life and experiences with them.
<<<Very well. We perceive that you are an honorable being. But this one has slaughtered many of us.>>>
"I know this. And you can see why I am repulsed and disgusted by his actions as much as you are."
<<<You give us hope that one day, when we re-encounter one another, your species may have gained maturity.>>>
"Farewell, then. And as for you..." But Saul Erdel had turned his pistol on his own head and blew his brains out. Nauseated, the Streak turned away from the scene of Erdel's crimes.
EPILOGUE:
Time passed. Each year, Jacob Allon and his family returned to the deserted laboratory, falling into ruin and decay, and said a kaddish for his farflung alien friends across the void of interplanetary space amidst the roiling Venusian clouds. The Justice Guild formed and although the Streak's duties were many, he never forgot his duty and purpose when it came to commemorating the site of the Vortice Massacre and providing solidarity and mourning to its dead. The Vortices kept in touch with their ally and in return, he informed them about developments on his world, such as the development of NASA's Mariner 2 and its launch on August 27, 1962.
And then, on October 28, 1962, the Vortices were aware that something was terribly wrong on their neighbouring world. They witnessed blinding pinpoints of light, airborne black clouds of debris and soot in its atmosphere and saw fires rage across its surface vegetation in areas that they knew were cities, including the one that they knew as Seaboard City, the home of their old friend of the last seven years. And then they heard the sound of radio broadcasts and recognised the timbre and significance of what they communicated. They sought Jacob's distinctive mind but found nothing but an empty echo.
Then, in their hundreds of thousands, the Vortices began to intone their own memorial chant and although few humans were able to witness the pulsations that spread across its clouds on that day, or comprehend what they meant, amidst the carnage, fires, cries of pain and pleas for assistance, mourning for the dead and dying, the Vortices communicated their own sense of grief and sorrow at the calamity that had befallen their nearest planetary neighbour, its people and especially their boon friend, Jacob Allon, the Streak.
THE END
++
NOVEMBER 1955:
On a clear night, Dr Saul Erdel cleaned the lens of his larger telescope, trained on Venus. With a cruel smile on his features, he activated his matter transmitter apparatus and a thin stream of radiation emanated forth from it.
Venus-109 is probably unusual in its strong resemblance to its datum equivalent amongst alternate universes. It had never hosted life on its surface except in the distant primeval past before a runaway greenhouse effect turned it into a hellworld with a surface inferno, incapable of supporting even extremophile life. Thus, its lifeforms exist in the upper to medium reaches of its atmosphere. Starting as airborne aerosol micro-organisms, they began to build energy fields and over time, they acquired sapience. They were indistinguishable from electrical storms on Earth and thus would have registered as such had Mariner 2 ever had the chance to transmit data from the cloud-covered inferno to NASA Mission Control on Earth, which never happened in this world. By the time that it was received, Houston was a desolate, icy wasteland wracked by radioactive wind and acid rain on its broken concrete, insensible and dead, charred corpses and shattered, melted glass.
However, Erdel had discovered pattern and purpose to the vortices of Venus and had concluded that they were indeed sapient life. However, unlike alternate versions on other Earths, Saul Erdel decided to do what he did deliberately. He had deduced that if the vortices were stockpiled and crushed, they might form a potent new fuel source. It did not matter to him that his potential prisoners constituted sapient life- all he cared about was the revenue stream that might result from his endeavors. He was deathly tired of his quotidian routine of having to apply for endless grants to carry on his research and the requirements that he teach stultified dullard students who only attended enough Seaboard University classes to pass their grade average and never bothered themselves with questions of applied science and research. He was alienated from the Department of Physics and thus did not receive a proper allocation of masters or doctoral students at all. Even when he did, their interests did not coincide with his.
Except that that would not happen. As he moved through the night, several months later, Jacob Allon- the Streak- noticed a pencil thin stream of light emanating from an observatory high above him. Then the screams and cries hit him as his vibratory pulses coincided with the frequency that they were broadcast on. The Streak gritted his teeth. The emotions conveyed were unmistakable- fear, terror, cries of agonised pain, mourning and sorrow - and they had something to do with the building that he had sped past. For a brief moment, he recalled the stories that his grandparents, aunt and uncles had told him about their narrow escape from Nazi Germany- and that decided his next course of action. He had a moral duty to investigate what was happening and end it. He powered toward the observatory, gritting his teeth as the broadcast volume grew in pitch and amplitude. With a superspeed fanburst, he hit the door and shattered it, causing Erdel to spin around. Caught in the act, the scientist turned and aimed a pistol at the surprise assailant, his features deep with contempt:
"What are you doing here?"
"None of your business, you garish intruder! Now get out of here and leave me alone!"
"Those arrangements of light and energy in that cylinder are alive and aware! You're causing them pain deliberately!"
Erdel sneered: "So? They constitute a new and hitherto unknown form of energy, more effective than petroleum or uranium. With it, this world could have free energy with no consequeneces."
"No consequences? When you're slaughtering innocent beings to achieve your objectives?"
"Eaten any meat or fish today?" Erdel sneered.
"Stop this. Now." The Streak prepared to close the distance between himself and the corrupted savant, until he changed plan and veered his course toward the cylinders, shattering them, liberating those of the Vortices that had survived. Erdel snarled as he swung a hefty object toward the hero, and stored energy slammed into the unprepared speedster. Then there was a shattering, roaring sound as the vortices rounded on their tormentor and tore the weapon from his hands. In a moment, the scientist was silhouetted in flame and turmoil until the Streak cried: "Wait! You are sapient, aware beings! Please, leave this creature to our justice and our ways. I promise that he will receive his due punishment. I know he killed many of you and that there is no excuse for his actions. Forgive us. Not all of us are like this." An exploratory tendril of energy penetrated the Streak's brain and without hesitation, he shared his life and experiences with them.
<<<Very well. We perceive that you are an honorable being. But this one has slaughtered many of us.>>>
"I know this. And you can see why I am repulsed and disgusted by his actions as much as you are."
<<<You give us hope that one day, when we re-encounter one another, your species may have gained maturity.>>>
"Farewell, then. And as for you..." But Saul Erdel had turned his pistol on his own head and blew his brains out. Nauseated, the Streak turned away from the scene of Erdel's crimes.
EPILOGUE:
Time passed. Each year, Jacob Allon and his family returned to the deserted laboratory, falling into ruin and decay, and said a kaddish for his farflung alien friends across the void of interplanetary space amidst the roiling Venusian clouds. The Justice Guild formed and although the Streak's duties were many, he never forgot his duty and purpose when it came to commemorating the site of the Vortice Massacre and providing solidarity and mourning to its dead. The Vortices kept in touch with their ally and in return, he informed them about developments on his world, such as the development of NASA's Mariner 2 and its launch on August 27, 1962.
And then, on October 28, 1962, the Vortices were aware that something was terribly wrong on their neighbouring world. They witnessed blinding pinpoints of light, airborne black clouds of debris and soot in its atmosphere and saw fires rage across its surface vegetation in areas that they knew were cities, including the one that they knew as Seaboard City, the home of their old friend of the last seven years. And then they heard the sound of radio broadcasts and recognised the timbre and significance of what they communicated. They sought Jacob's distinctive mind but found nothing but an empty echo.
Then, in their hundreds of thousands, the Vortices began to intone their own memorial chant and although few humans were able to witness the pulsations that spread across its clouds on that day, or comprehend what they meant, amidst the carnage, fires, cries of pain and pleas for assistance, mourning for the dead and dying, the Vortices communicated their own sense of grief and sorrow at the calamity that had befallen their nearest planetary neighbour, its people and especially their boon friend, Jacob Allon, the Streak.
THE END
